I must admit that I only skimmed through the last third of this collection. I greatly enjoyed a small handful of these essays, including the title one, as well as "Lumbar Thought" (the jeans make the man), and the one about soccer (I tend to share Eco's sentiments about professional sports). Other than those, however, I found that I did not have the background to appreciate Eco's writing; without training in the classics and a knowledge of Italy's post WWII history, the essays are dull. I feel bad giving this collection a low rating, because Eco is clearly brilliant, but this collection did not "work" for me. I recommend How To Travel With a Salmon much more strongly.